Fabric Extender Commands

This chapter describes the Cisco NX-OS commands used to manage a Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender from a Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switch.

attach fex

To access the CLI of a connected Fabric Extender to run diagnostic commands, use the attach fex command.

attachfexchassis_ID

Syntax Description

chassis_ID

Fabric Extender chassis ID. The chassis ID range is from 100 to 199.

Command Default

None

Command Modes

EXEC mode

Command History

Release

Modification

4.0(1a)N2(1)

This command was introduced.

Usage Guidelines

Use the attach fex command to access the CLI on a connected Fabric Extender and performing diagnostic commands. We recommend that you use this command only following direction from Cisco technical support personnel.

Examples

This example shows how to access the CLI of a connected Fabric Extender to run diagnostic commands:

switch# attach fex 101

Related Commands

Command

Description

show fex

Displays all configured Fabric Extender chassis connected to the switch.

beacon

To turn on the locator beacon LED of a Fabric Extender, use the beacon command. To turn off the locator beacon LED, use the no form of this command.

beacon

nobeacon

Syntax Description

This command has no arguments or keywords.

Command Default

None

Command Modes

Fabric Extender configuration mode

Command History

Release

Modification

4.0(1a)N2(1)

This command was introduced.

Usage Guidelines

Use the beacon command to toggle the locator beacon LED of a Fabric Extender, allowing you to easily identify the machine in a busy data center.

Examples

This example shows how to turn on the locator beacon LED for a specific Fabric Extender chassis:

Related Commands

Displays all configured Fabric Extender chassis connected to the switch.

description (fex)

To specify a description for a Fabric Extender, use the description command. To revert to the default description, use the no form of this command.

descriptiondescription

nodescription

Syntax Description

description

Description of a Fabric Extender. The default is the string FEXxxxx where xxxx is the chassis ID. For example, if the chassis ID is 123, the default description is FEX0123. The maximum length is 20 characters.

Command Default

None

Command Modes

Fabric Extender configuration mode

Command History

Release

Modification

4.0(1a)N2(1)

This command was introduced.

Examples

This example shows how to specify a description for a Fabric Extender:

Related Commands

Displays all configured Fabric Extender chassis connected to the switch.

fex

To create a Fabric Extender and enter Fabric Extender configuration mode, use the fex command. To delete the Fabric Extender configuration, use the no form of this command.

fexchassis_ID

nofexchassis_ID

Syntax Description

chassis_ID

Fabric Extender chassis ID. The chassis ID range is from 100 to 199.

Command Default

None

Command Modes

Configuration mode

Command History

Release

Modification

4.0(1a)N2(1)

This command was introduced.

Usage Guidelines

You can create and configure the Fabric Extender before you connect and associate it to an interface on the parent switch. Once you associate the Fabric Extender to the switch, the configuration you created is transferred over to the Fabric Extender and applied.

Examples

This example shows how to enter Fabric Extender configuration mode:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)# fex 101

This example shows how to delete the Fabric Extender configuration:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)# no fex 101

Related Commands

Command

Description

beacon

Turns on the locator beacon LED of a Fabric Extender.

description (fex)

Specifies a description for a Fabric Extender.

fex associate

Associates a Fabric Extender to an Ethernet or EtherChannel interface.

pinning max-links

Specifies the number of statically pinned uplinks connected to a Fabric Extender.

serial

Assigns a serial number to a Fabric Extender.

show fex

Displays all configured Fabric Extender chassis connected to the switch.

fex associate

To associate a Fabric Extender to a fabric interface, use the fex associate command. To disassociate the Fabric Extender, use the no form of this command.

fex associatechassis_ID

nofex associate [chassis_ID]

Syntax Description

chassis_ID

Fabric Extender chassis ID. The chassis ID range is from 100 to 199.

Command Default

None

Command Modes

Interface configuration mode

Command History

Release

Modification

4.0(1a)N2(1)

This command was introduced.

Usage Guidelines

Before you can associate an interface on the parent switch to the Fabric Extender, you must first make the interface into a fabric interface by entering the switchport mode fex-fabric command.

Examples

This example shows how to associate the Fabric Extender to an Ethernet interface:

Related Commands

Displays all configured Fabric Extender chassis connected to the switch.

switchport mode fex-fabric

Sets the interface to be an uplink port.

fex pinning redistribute

To redistribute the host interfaces on a Fabric Extender, use the fex pinning redistribute command.

fexpinningredistributechassis_ID

Syntax Description

chassis_ID

Fabric Extender chassis ID. The chassis ID range is from 100 to 199.

Command Default

None

Command Modes

EXEC mode

Command History

Release

Modification

4.0(1a)N2(1)

This command was introduced.

Usage Guidelines

When you provision the Fabric Extender using the Statically Pinned mode (see the Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender Software Configuration Guide), the host interfaces on the Fabric Extender are pinned to the fabric interfaces in the order that they were initially configured. The next time that you reboot the Fabric Extender, the configured fabric interfaces are pinned to the host interfaces in an ascending order by the port number of the fabric interface.

Use the fexpinningredistribute command if you want to configure the same fixed distribution of host interfaces without restarting the Fabric Extender after your initial configuration.

Caution This command disrupts all the host interface ports of the Fabric Extender. However, the disruption is shorter than would be the case if you reboot the Fabric Extender.

Examples

This example shows how to redistribute the host interfaces on a Fabric Extender:

switch# fex pinning redistribute 101

Related Commands

Command

Description

pinning max-links

Defines the number of uplinks on a Fabric Extender.

show fex

Displays all configured Fabric Extender chassis connected to the switch.

logging fex

To set the logging alert level for Fabric Extender events, use the logging fex command. To reset the logging level, use the no form of this command.

loggingfex [severity-level]

nologgingfex [severity-level]

Syntax Description

severity-level

(Optional) Number of the desired severity level at which messages should be logged. Messages at or numerically lower than the specified level are logged. Severity levels are as follows:

•0—emergency: System unusable

•1—alert: Immediate action needed

•2—critical: Critical condition—default level

•3—error: Error condition

•4—warning: Warning condition

•5—notification: Normal but significant condition

•6—informational: Informational message only

•7—debugging: Appears during debugging only

Command Default

None

Command Modes

Configuration mode

Command History

Release

Modification

4.0(1a)N2(1)

This command was introduced.

Examples

This example shows how to set the logging alert level for Fabric Extender events:

switch(config)# logging fex 4

This example shows how to reset the logging level:

switch(config)# no logging fex

Related Commands

Command

Description

show fex

Displays all configured Fabric Extender chassis connected to the switch.

pinning max-links

To specify the number of statically pinned uplinks, use the pinning max-links command. To reset to the default, use the no form of this command.

pinningmax-linksuplinks

nopinningmax-links

Syntax Description

uplinks

Number of uplinks. The range is 1 to 4. The default is 1.

This command is applicable only if the Fabric Extender is connected to its parent switch using one or more statically pinned fabric interfaces.

Command Default

The maximum uplinks is 1.

Command Modes

Fabric Extender configuration mode

Command History

Release

Modification

4.0(1a)N2(1)

This command was introduced.

Usage Guidelines

Use the pinningmax-links command when you create a number of pinned fabric interface connections to enable the parent switch to determine a distribution of host interfaces. The host interfaces are divided by the number of uplinks and distributed accordingly.

Caution Changing the value of
uplinks is disruptive; all the host interfaces on the Fabric Extender are brought down and back up as the parent switch reassigns its static pinning.

Examples

This example shows how to specify the number of statically pinned uplinks for a Fabric Extender:

Related Commands

Displays all configured Fabric Extender chassis connected to the switch.

serial

To assign a serial number to a Fabric Extender, use the serial command. To remove the serial number, use the no form of this command.

serialserial_string

noserial

Syntax Description

serial_string

Serial number string for the Fabric Extender. The string is alphanumeric, case sensitive, and has a maximum length of 20 characters.

Command Default

None

Command Modes

Fabric Extender configuration mode

Command History

Release

Modification

4.0(1a)N2(1)

This command was introduced.

Usage Guidelines

The serial number string you define with the serial command must match the serial number of the Fabric Extender. If you configure a serial number and then you use the fex associate command to associate the corresponding chassis ID to the switch, the association will succeed only if the Fabric Extender reports a matching serial number string.

Caution Configuring a serial number other than that of the given Fabric Extender will force the Fabric Extender offline.

Examples

This example shows how to specify a serial number for a Fabric Extender: